A Canadian pianist whose primarily improvised work recalls composers such as Erik Satie and Maurice Ravel, Jean-Michel Blais’s music is spontaneous and emotional rather than critical and technically precise; often including experimental production techniques into his recordings.

Blais grew up in Quebec and started playing organ and piano as a child. Beginning his life in the music world, he trained as a classical pianist at the Trois-Rivieres Music Conservatory. However, the constraints of formal training changed his musical course, when he rediscovered his love for music while settling in Montreal.

His music is imbued with an emotional depth that belies its wordlessness. His playing and composition are poetic, with an inspired understanding of the inherent lyricism in instrumental music.

Blais’s debut album Dans ma main has amassed 50 million streams worldwide, reaching no. 1 on Billboard’s classical chart in Canada 14 times. This sophomore release is an expansive album of post-classical piano with strands if electronic detail, blending his conservatory skill and precise pop sensibility with synthetic accompaniment.